


Where the Heart Lies

by Nebulad



Series: Mien'harel [12]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: DAI AU, Fluff, Gen, Post-Blight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6640159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He straightened up, and Gahruil jumped at him— something he seemed to expect, if the way he caught them was any indication. <i>“Vashedan,”</i> he muttered, as if his arms hadn’t tightened around their clearly sobbing body. “You would let the humans see you like this?”</p><p>“Fuck the <i>shem,”</i> they whispered into his shoulder. “My best friend is leaving and I’m not gunna see him again.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where the Heart Lies

The morning was barely violet on the horizon when Gahruil left their appointments in Alistair’s palace. They’d return to the Alienage soon to start organizing people and resources that had been generously donated by the Crown as reparations for the war crimes committed against the elves— Alistair had been baffled that Gahruil had demanded so little, but they knew better than to test the nobles with requests so early. That morning, however, they’d risen to go to the docks.

They remained much the same as Gahruil had left them a year ago. The smell of fish choked the air and even with the barest suggestion of morning in the sky, workers were already there. Elves scrambled precariously on scaffolding to keep their paltry jobs, while humans hauled crates and packed them on to waiting ships. Notably this morning, all were cutting a wide berth around the Qunari standing very still, waiting for boarding call. The boat would take him as far as Seheron, but whether Sten moved on to Qunandar to report to the Arishok was entirely up in the air. _I will go if called. If not, I will resume my duties,_ had been his only comment on the matter.

“ _Kadan,”_ he said when Gahruil sidled up beside him, through crowds of dockhands and impatient passengers. He didn’t seem surprised that they were there.

 _Came to see you off,_ they signed stiffly, shifting around nervously. There was too much going on— too many dock workers, too many memories of dock work, too much sadness. Sten was leaving and he might never come back— even if he did return, there were no guarantees his duties would bring him anywhere near Denerim.

“Thank-you,” he returned, his voice taking on an odd quality. It was as close to mournful as his voice had ever got, and Gahruil’s eyes shot towards _Asala_ on his back. He seemed to feel the weight of it acutely for a moment, shifting his balance to compensate.

 _Got you something for the road,_ they added, and on the sign for _road_ they swung their pack off of their shoulder and dug through it for the cardboard box, carefully wrapped in soft pink cloth. It’d taken them forever to convince the kitchen staff to put it together, but they were glad they had something to offer. They’d toyed with the idea of giving him a trinket but there was precious little jewellery that fit them both, and they’d figured he’d like the box more.

He opened it tentatively, as if he were expecting something ridiculous, and smiled. There were piles of sloppily iced cookies, painstakingly made by Gahruil with some help from a fairly hungover Oghren. They’d had to beg the staff to _make_ the cookies, but the icing had been done by hand in as many colours as Oghren and them could mix together. As a result, some were this weird sort of greying brown— those ones were at the bottom, though. _“Kadan,”_ he said again, his voice lower.

 _Didn’t want you to forget your second favourite thing about the south._ Embarrassingly, their hands were shaking. _Now if you could put them somewhere safe I’d like to humiliate you in front of all these people,_ and to their surprise he complied. He very carefully rewrapped the box and placed it into his meticulous pack. He travelled light so they’d been confident he’d have room.

He straightened up, and Gahruil jumped at him— something he seemed to expect, if the way he caught them was any indication. _“Vashedan,”_ he muttered, as if his arms hadn’t tightened around their clearly sobbing body. “You would let the humans see you like this?”

“Fuck the _shem,”_ they whispered into his shoulder. “My best friend is leaving and I’m not gunna see him again.” He grunted, offering nothing more than another light squeeze around their waist. They let it all out— this moment had been coming for days but it was so painfully _real_ now that it was kicking the shit out of them. Oghren was going to hang around Denerim, they’d already lost Morrigan, they’d be seeing a _painful_ amount of Alistair… but Sten would just disappear. He may as well have taken one of their arms with him.

The boarding call was dropped and the assembled crowd went from gawking to shuffling onto the ship. Gary loosened their grip and little and looked into Sten’s perpetually grim face. _You’ll write, right?_ They wouldn’t be able to read it, but Zevran could tell them what everything said and even if he couldn’t— it was important for Gary to have something of his. Something that proved he was alive and thinking of them.

“For all the good it will serve,” he said, nodding. They grinned a little and pawed at their eyes. “And if you should find yourself in Seheron, ask for the hornless Sten. It is uncommon among my people and you will find me faster.” With that he let them go, depositing them neatly on the ground. With a final nod, he turned and boarded the ship.

Gahruil stayed until he was a dot on the horizon. Sten remained on deck a half hour later than that.

. . . . .

Arishok sat in his chair, looking over strategy plans yet to be approved for launch. He could spot at least three flaws that the Ariqun would reject, but the heat of the day was making his head swim. Besides the guard outside he was entirely alone, which was quickly becoming dull. Usually there would be a Ben-Hassrath present to provide recommendations based on their intimate knowledge of soldiers, but a recent spike in Tal-Vashoth defectors had most of the agents running.

It certainly made for poor battle plans.

He was trying to decide which was preferable— handing in the plans and waiting for the no doubt sensible demands from the Ariqun, or refusing to allow her yet another opportunity to correct him and remain in the sweltering heat to try and force an idea to form— when his ears pricked.

“ _Kadan,”_ he said out loud. In front of him, there was a puff of shadow and suddenly a ginger elf in some ragged trousers and colourful scarves used as belts.

 _How do you always know?_ The sulk that came along with the demand roused more nostalgia than perhaps he would have admitted to the others in the Triumvirate. He considered answering the question seriously— _because you are my_ kadan, _because I know how you stand and how you fight even now._

“You are not as subtle as you believe,” he said instead.

_Kadanshok defransdim vashedan!_

“And your signs are still off,” he added. They rolled their eyes and moved to plop themself in his lap— he would have to have a word with the guard who had allowed someone to pass without their knowledge. Until then…

 _You’re open for a flank right here. You have to place archers over there to compensate for your frontal assault,_ they said, tapping the map meaningfully.

He exhaled, feeling the return of a piece he hadn’t realized was missing.

**Author's Note:**

> so I reorganized [ my writing blog ](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com) and found that I hadn't written any genfic for origins which was a fucking crime so. here we have genfic for origins. [Follow this link](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com/find-fic) to find the navigation page of my tumblr blog where you can literally pick a pairing and go. it's so fucking organized guys it took me two fucking days. do yourselves a favour and look at my character page too.
> 
> also at the end there gary tells sten they're gunna kick him in the nuts. just to save you the wiki trip.


End file.
